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August 25, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Sep 8, 2000

No hurry when it comes to NMD

U.S. President Bill Clinton announced last week that he would put off any final decision on national missile defense. Instead, his successor will have to decide whether to go ahead with the controversial program. It is the right decision. The United States should not rush to deploy an antimissile program...

EDITORIALS

Sep 7, 2000

The price of failure

Nippon Credit Bank, which came under state control in December 1998, was sold last Friday to a consortium led by Internet investor Softbank Corp. The contract includes a controversial clause that says the buyer (the Softbank group) can request the seller (the government) to buy back troubled NCB loans...

EDITORIALS

Sep 6, 2000

Slow progress toward a peace treaty

To no one's surprise, Japan and Russia were unable to reach agreement on a peace treaty during this week's visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Even though Mr. Putin's predecessor, Mr. Boris Yeltsin, agreed at a summit three years ago to conclude a treaty by the end of this year, the distance between...

EDITORIALS

Sep 5, 2000

On the precipice in Colombia

The United States last month approved a $1.3 billion aid package to Colombia. The military and social assistance is intended to help that country's government fight leftist guerrillas who have become key players in the drug trade. President Bill Clinton pledged last week during a one-day visit to Colombia...

EDITORIALS

Sep 4, 2000

Budget reform, not budget tricks

The government budget for fiscal 2001 is shaping up now that the Finance Ministry has received requests from all ministries and agencies. Their estimates, which include debt payments and revenue transfers to local governments, total about 84.8 trillion yen, down 0.2 percent from the initial budget for...

EDITORIALS

Sep 3, 2000

Canberra's unsightly pique

The United Nations is making enemies again. Last week, yet another government has announced that it is ready to reassess relations with the world body after being criticized for domestic human-rights policies. This time, however, the complainant is not one of the usual offenders -- China, Sudan, Iraq,...

EDITORIALS

Sep 2, 2000

A fragile outpost in space

There are three kinds of people in the world: those who are intrigued by and optimistic about the International Space Station; those who are outraged by and skeptical of it; and those who look blank and say, "What International Space Station?"

EDITORIALS

Sep 1, 2000

Myanmar's accidental tourist

The town of Dala is "a small but scenic and charming town which is a 10-minute boat ride down the Rangoon River from Yangon," reports the military junta that runs Myanmar. Maybe, but it is unlikely that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader, is enjoying her stay in Dala....

EDITORIALS

Sep 1, 2000

A shameful concession

The Millennium World Peace Summit convenes this week at the United Nations. More than 1,000 religious leaders representing over 75 faiths from around the world are attending, but there is one conspicuous absentee: the Dalai Lama. The interfaith coalition that organized the conference admitted that he...

EDITORIALS

Aug 31, 2000

More than a private matter

Not for the first time, members of the Japanese public seem to be proving the experts wrong by their behavior. It is no longer merely a provocative social phenomenon, however, when the means by which they choose to do so is suicide. According to a new report from the National Police Agency, 33,048 Japanese...

EDITORIALS

Aug 30, 2000

Keep Iraq on the agenda

A growing number of reports suggest that Iraq is again developing ballistic missiles. Predictably, the government in Baghdad has dismissed the charge. We cannot be sure what is going on: Efforts by the United Nations to inspect Iraqi programs to develop weapons of mass destruction are still blocked by...

EDITORIALS

Aug 29, 2000

An achievement of sorts

The latest normalization talks between Japan and North Korea, held here for two days last week, ended in a draw, although the two sides agreed to meet again later this year. While North Korea focused on "liquidating the past," demanding a Japanese apology and compensation for the 1910-1945 colonization...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.

From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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